Just as everyone figured out how to curl their hair with flattening irons, Karlie Kloss chopped off her flowing locks and gave us “the chop.”

The ‘do isn’t new for 20-year-old Kloss; she cut it for a Vogue photo shoot on Nov. 5. But the New York Times has already pronounced her swingy, one-length, lightly layered, banged bob the cut of the year. According to hairstylist Garren Defazio, beachy waves have gone the way of pin-straight hair, and women are keeping it au naturel, just like Kloss.

Anna Wintour’s golden girl is the face of the style, but not without some reluctance. Defazio suggested the modern look for Kloss after “her hair had been worn out from shows and shoots. Vogue called and said, ‘Would you do a cut?’ and I said Karlie should be the one to do it on.” Before her signature dark blonde tresses got the axe, she admitted to a slight case of “Should I or shouldn’t I?” butterflies. “I haven’t had short hair since the second grade,” she says. “It was a bob with bangs—and let me tell you, that was not a fabulous cut.”

Kloss studied images of “sexy sixties” icons Jane Birkin and Jean Shrimpton before reporting for work at Vogue, which chronicled her cut for a January article called, fittingly, “Chop Chop.” Shrimpton and Birkin (namesake of the Hermes bag) both sported soft, unstructured bobs with bangs similar to Kloss’ at the height of their fame.

The supermodel’s research and risk paid off. The beginning of a new year often means new haircuts to symbolize change, and Kloss’ all-natural cut is just simple enough to copy. Vogue noted the style’s previous incarnations on models like Karen Elson, but Kloss’ prominence (House of Style, Victoria’s Secret, and so on) gave it the extra push toward popularity that it needed. Like ‘the Rachel’ that came before it, it’s the woman made the hair craze happen. It’s not the easiest look to pull off, not that that matters for Kloss, who has effortlessly striking bone structure and, according to Defazio, naturally compliant hair. Still, it suggests a low-maintenance ease that is always a welcome change.

Despite her initial nerves, Kloss likes it, she really likes it—along with everyone else. If she didn’t, it wouldn’t have been a total loss. Victoria’s Secret gave ger lush extensions for their fashion show, filmed days after her Vogue idea.